


The Story of the Cosmos

by ByTheBi



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Celestial Deities, Extended Metaphors, M/M, Retelling, basically a retelling of lea and isa's journey as if they were celestial bodies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:28:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25156261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ByTheBi/pseuds/ByTheBi
Summary: The Sun - Isa never liked this name for him. He hates it almost as much as the name Axel. In his eyes there was, there is, only ever Lea. Beautiful, shining, unforgettable Lea. But no one cares to hear of Lea and Isa.No, this is the story of the Sun and the Moon.
Relationships: Axel/Saïx (Kingdom Hearts), Isa/Lea (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 22





	The Story of the Cosmos

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for and posted in the AkuSai zine, Eclipse of the Heart.

They say that in the beginning, the world was Darkness. That Light came later, in the form of a radiant ball of flames that went by many names, but best known as the Sun. 

_ (Isa never liked this name. He hates it almost as much as the name Axel. In his eyes there was, there is, only ever Lea. Beautiful, shining, unforgettable Lea. But no one cares to hear of Lea and Isa - no, this is the story of the Sun and the Moon.)  _

The truth is that Light had been around for as long as could be remembered. Perhaps this was always what the Sun intended: to dig himself so deeply into the memory of the universe that he could not be forgotten, even when he was not yet around to be known. But the facts as the Moon understood them were that first came the Sun, then came the shadowy apocalypse that could be understood only as Darkness. Whether or not this was the truth was irrelevant. 

To him, the Sun was always there. 

_ (Isa can’t remember ever meeting Lea. When he reaches back into the furthest recesses of his memory, there’s only ever red hair and a vibrant smile turned his way.)  _

It didn’t matter that their lives yet held no meaning; their aimless drift through the cosmos could never be anything other than pleasant with the Sun illuminating his way. Neither of them wanted for a destination, not when they had each other’s company. 

And then they met her. A lonely star, flickering and confused, her light dimmed by forces none of them yet understood. 

The Sun threw his rays, and the Moon pushed forth his beams, but to no avail. The Star remained trapped, growing ever weaker by the day as an inky void fed off her light. 

There are two things about that momentous day the Moon can remember with startling clarity: the first is light, bright and shining with hope and optimism as the Sun promised the Star they would return to help her; the second is Darkness, as their lights were snuffed at once by a blackhole too large to notice until it was already upon them. 

When they awoke, they were no longer themselves as they once knew. The Sun and the Moon were given new names to go with the new marks scarring their forms. The craters of the moon’s surface, the X carved into his heavenly skin. Roiling flames burst hotter than ever from the sun, two purple marks etched into his perfect cheeks. 

_ (Axel is nothing like Lea or the Sun, no matter how hard he tries to be, and Saïx? Isa has never loathed a name more.)  _

Things changed when the Darkness came. They were given tasks as cryptic as the one assigning them, but there was no satisfaction in completing them. There was no frustration either. No joy, no pain, no light, no love. 

Now that they had an assignment and a group with which to ‘belong’, the Sun and Moon were more aimless than ever. 

And so, with no purpose and no heart, the Moon truly was lost. Surrounded by the darkness, by the asteroid belt that called itself the Organization, he had never felt more alone. He scraped together his memories, finding a goal in them and applying himself to it, hoping it would fill the craters left behind on his surface. 

_ (“We have to stick to our mission, Lea.”  _

_ Familiar green eyes flicker over to him, but there’s a dullness to them that Isa can’t ever remember seeing there before. He thinks maybe this should bother him, but he can’t find it in him to care.  _

_ “What mission?”  _

_ Isa furrows his brow as he thinks. “The... “ girl, he wants to say. But she’s not a girl, not any more than they are men, than they are people. They are above words like girl or boy; they are celestial beings - simultaneously whole and empty, paradoxical in their perfection.  _

_ “The Star,” he finally settles on. “We promised we’d find her.”  _

_ “Oh, right,” Lea says after a few seconds. His pupils dart around restlessly as he scours his memory, no doubt trying to pick up and piece together what remains after the Darkness fell upon him. “I guess we did do that, huh?”  _

_ “So we must stick with it.” They must because if they don’t, then Isa isn’t sure what else there is for him to do and while that doesn’t bother him, he thinks that perhaps beings of their kind should have a purpose beyond whatever Xemnas demands of them.  _

_ And if his memories are anything to go off of, it’s the kind of thing he would want to do - if only he could remember how to want anything.)  _

Time seemed to drift as aimlessly as the Moon did, sending him from moment to moment. He and the Sun started to split, wandering down different paths and at first, it made sense. They had different roles to play; they could still be a team while apart after all. They created days to mark the passage of time, to delegate how long they each are to spend in the spotlight, and how long they were to bend under the influence of darkness. 

It really wasn’t until the Earth was born that the Moon noticed any change between them. 

The Earth was a strange collection of other matter: organics and inorganics, teeming with life when it should have very well been dead. 

And it was all because of the Sun. 

The Sun fixated on the Earth, nurtured its inherent gifts with guiding light. It was almost irresponsible really, how much he began to shirk his responsibilities in favor of showering the newborns with his wisdom, his resources, his... 

The Moon dared not finish the thought because beings like them, more creature than deity at this point, had no room for love in their hearts, and no room for hearts in their chests. There was only the Darkness, which was so cold and lonely and empty that the Moon gorged himself on it, force fed until he was swollen and hollow with emotions he did not feel. 

The Earth turned away from him, and of course, so did the Sun; a New Moon, they called him, when he was too dark for them to bother craning their necks. 

He had to chase after his old friend, his dear Sun, his-- no, not his anymore, the - The Sun, and all he had to show for his efforts is a crescent of light that waxed and waned at its leisure. 

While The Sun was off with the newest additions to the universe, the Moon stewed in bitterness. Without a heart, it was hard to recognize the acerbic taste on his tongue until it was too late and he was spitting it out at others, burning them with his words. 

_ (“What is it about them,” he begins sourly, “that draws you to them so?”  _

_ Lea sighs, putting years’ worth of exasperation into the sound. “They have names, Isa.”  _

_ “I am aware. They are Earth and Humanity.”  _

_ The face Lea makes is one he hasn’t pulled in a long while, but it’s still so achingly familiar that for a moment Isa feels winded. He’s suddenly brought back to the early days of their friendship, back when Isa still tried to adhere to formalities by calling him Sun. Lea had grimaced then too, eyebrows pinching together and nose scrunching up endearingly.  _

_ Isa looks at him now and recalls the days where he had once thought that face cute, reminds himself there is nothing cute there now. Only danger, bright and burning.  _

_ “Those are their titles, Isa. Earth goes by Roxas, and the one you call Humanity? That’s Xion.”  _

_ The names make Isa’s lip curl. It’s bad enough that Lea’s become so infatuated with the new planet, but to take an interest in its inhabitants too? In the manifestation of its lifeforms, little more than glorified animals that like to play dress up? He should be ashamed of himself.  _

_ Isa bristles, and the words launch themselves from his throat before he can stop them. “He is a planet who thinks only of himself, and she is nothing more than a pet playing at godhood. All three of you should be more focused on fulfilling your duties than fooling around like children.”  _

_ His eyes narrow and they stare each other down for a few long moments. There are many things brewing in the emerald depths of Lea’s eyes, Things that Isa can feel buried deep inside himself, wriggling strangely in the pit of his stomach. Things Isa might almost call emotions.  _

_ Lea eventually turns and walks away, hurling some half-hearted insult over his shoulder as he goes. As he watches him leave, Isa chides himself for being so foolish as to think for even a second that either of them could feel without hearts.)  _

The Moon is not conscious of the return of hearts until his own is snatched away from him yet again. It might be only seconds, or perhaps an entire millenia, during which he feels the beat of emotions in his chest - painfully familiar and beautifully strange at once, too much for him to decipher at the time - but it is enough. It is enough to give him strength to push through the Second Coming of Darkness. 

Subtlety is key. And the Moon is nothing if not subtle, already long accustomed to shifting in and out of view from his perch in the night sky; people forget about him until he wants them to see him, until he is full and gleaming, baring his teeth at them in an glorious display of his power and beauty. 

And that’s exactly what he does this time around. While the dark, immortal beings that give him orders scheme, he makes plans of his own, doing what little he can to aid the side of those who bask in light - or rather, the side of those who  _ create  _ the light. 

He gathers information, writing it in the sky with the help of the stars. When asteroids are sent hurtling towards the Earth to injure the side of Light, to break through the Sky, crush the Land, and ripple the Sea before they can gather their forces, the Moon uses his pull to send them flying off course. It’s meager aid, and poorer atonement still, but it is all he has to offer. He is but a Moon; he was never meant for great acts. 

( _ “They’re beautiful,” Xion gasps, gathering up another seashell and holding it up to the light. Isa’s ensured that the moon is full tonight, and its glow glazes the white of the shell with ephemeral light. There’s dozens more cradelled to her chest, each one prettier than the last. “Thank you.”  _

_ “They’re technically Kairi’s creation,” he points out simply. “Hers and perhaps Roxas’s. I’ve done nothing here.”  _

_ “Without you, I wouldn’t have been able to find so many. You made this, tide, I think you said? You made this tide for me.”  _

_ “It wasn’t for you,” Isa argues, though even he isn’t sure why he made them either. Certainly not for Lea, who can’t swim and would never be caught dead near the shoreline. And definitely not for himself. He decides not to think too deeply on it even as they sit on the sand together, Xion counting her treasures while he stares up at the sky.)  _

His light isn't nourishing, not the way the Sun’s is; he can barely illuminate the path in front of them, but the humans come out beneath his glow anyway. He doesn't get it; he isn't supposed to be able to provide. The moon is just a rock; the Moon is just... himself. He is nothing and yet, Humanity admires him. The Earth, albeit reluctantly, seems to have come to rely him. 

It comes out of nowhere one day when the Earth turns its face up to him and thanks him. The words are said casually, simply, but full of sincerity with which the Moon doesn’t know what to do. And when he looks away, too overwhelmed to think, he finds the Sun beaming at him, proud and kind and  _ knowing _ . 

_ (“What?” he hisses, as Roxas scurries away. Lea quickly inhabits the space she’s left behind, arms crossed behind his head, as radiant as ever.  _

_ “Oh, nothing.”  _

_ Isa’s face feels hot, and as he touches the bridge of his nose, he wonders idly how much of that is due to a blush and how much is from sunburn.  _

_ “You look like you have something to say, so spit it out.”  _

_ Lea’s arms drop back down to his sides. “Nothin’,” he repeats, shrugging a little as he picks out his next words, “I’m just happy is all. And I can tell you are, too.”  _

_ Some of Isa’s frustration slips away. It’s hard not to smile when Lea looks at him like that; after all, it’s always been impossible for the Moon to do anything other than bask in the Sun’s light, to reshape the rays into his own soft, white glow.  _

_ But then again, he doesn’t have to be the Moon. Not here. Not with him. _

_ “Lea,” he murmurs, catching the redhead’s attention.  _

_ They’re drawn to each other. Lea’s eyes dart down to glance at his lips.  _

_ “Isa,” he breathes.  _

_ The brush of their lips is nothing and yet their kiss is everything. Warm and soft and all-encompassing, like the radiance they share in all that they do, like the powerful emotion that fills their strange forms almost to bursting.)  _

They say that when the Sun and Moon align, an eclipse happens, but that’s neither here nor there. After all, this is the but the simple story of Isa and Lea, the tale of two men and their journey. And they say that where Isa and Lea’s hearts meet, light and love are sure to be found. 

**Author's Note:**

> This was very... abstract. And while I had a lot of fun with it, looking back, I have some qualms about the end result, so any comments/constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated!
> 
> Overall, I hope you enjoyed this piece and happy AkuSai month everybody!
> 
> [Follow me on Twitter](https://twitter.com/peachylixir)for WIPs and shenanigans.


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